Manish Sharma is a man who recognises that brands need to be the same but different. Not for him is the rigid belief in absolute brand consistency but rather an understanding of the benefits of a looser brand coherency.
Sharma, the President & CEO of Panasonic India wants to remain true to Panasonic’ s global vision but at the same time recognises that this has to be tailored for his market and its particular quirks.
“Our commitment at Panasonic is to provide a ‘Better life’ for our consumers and contribute to creating a ‘Better World’ around them.

The requirement of our audience differs across geographies and therefore technological solutions have to be customized to the local environment. With this philosophy we intend to provide solutions that are made in India for the Indians, across business and consumer sectors.
India is at the cusp of change, and is being recognized as one of the most influential markets globally…Taking into account these unique local conditions, Panasonic is now looking at India as a priority market. Taking from our legacy, we will continue to provide solutions which will now be fueled by our ‘Indovation’ strategy, of weaving local solutions to our global approach.”

Panasonic’s new Stainmaster washing machine is one example of Indovation in action. Recently launched it has a special wash cycle to tackle curry stains. Panasonic found that existing washing machines on the market were failing to fully get the food off their clothes, which was leading to customer complaints and was slowing market growth.

 

Panasonic set out to solve the problem, looking at the specific stain-making ingredients in curries and testing hundreds of different combinations of water temperature and water flow. It took them two years to establish the optimal time and water temperature required to remove the stains.

Having identified and solved the curry problem, Panasonic also considered other local tough cleaning challenges. So, as well as the curry option, the machine has five other special including one to remove traces of hair oil.

Currently only about 10% of homes in India have a washing machine, with most people still doing their laundry by hand. South Korean manufacturers dominate the market, but Panasonic hopes its new button will both help grow the market and win it share, despite their machine carrying a 10% price premium.

It is currently winning the PR and bad pun battle with headlines about ‘Spicing up the market’ and ‘Currying favour with Indian consumers.’

Footnote: McDonald’s famous for how consistent its offer is around actually allows for local variation. Perhaps not too surprisingly, there isn’t any beef on its menu in India and as famously discussed between John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction the Quarter-Pounder with Cheese is known as the Royale with Cheese in France.